Cauliflower Soup

I am a big fan of soups, and particularly their ability to use a large amount of delicious home grown produce in a nutritious way. I try and grow as many soup friendly ingredients as I can which is why I have been persevering with leeks. Since my last batch of leeks took over 6 months to mature to a diameter of approximately 1 cm I am going to give up on them for a while but they did taste good in this soup.

The hero (don’t you hate that expression used in relation to food?) of this dish though is the cauliflower. Cauliflower soup is a great way to use home grown cauliflower that, like much of mine, doesn’t necessarily look exactly pristine. You’re going to puree it anyway so the occasional gap between florets doesn’t really matter. Before I launch into how to make it I should tell you it borrows from a recipe from a friend of mine. So thank you to Tracey for the basis of this, I hope I overheard it correctly. (Tracey was explaining how to make cauliflower soup to a mutual friend who is learning to cook and I thought I’d road test her recipe – or what I remember of it. The results were great.)

Cauliflower Soup

1 stalk celery – finely chopped

1 clove garlic (or a couple of stalks of green garlic which is what I used on the weekend) – finely chopped

2 medium sized leeks – finely chopped

1 onion – finely chopped

1 cauliflower – broken into florets

1 large potato – diced

1 litre stock (vegetable or chicken ideally)

2 – 3 tblspns olive oil

Salt & pepper

Coat the bottom of a large saucepan with the olive oil (and a knob of butter if you are feeling decadent). Saute the onion, leek and celery in oil until they soften, add the garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add stock, potato and cauliflower. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer until the potato & cauliflower are soft. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Puree and serve.

Oh I love cauliflower soup-there is something so comforting about its subtle taste. I add just the tiniest drizzle of chilli oil on the top before serving which not only looks pretty but is a lovely flavour contrast to the cauli.